Brabourne Stadium, the spiritual home of cricket in Mumbai, played host to CCIâ€™s first-of-its-kind street football tournament. Conducted over two days on 11th and 12thMay, 2013, the competition showcased Mumbaiâ€™s street football culture featuring lightning quick feet, silky skills and a boat load of goals!

Famous all over the world for being the hotbed of raw talent from the favelas of Brazil to the mean streets of England, street football has produced champions such a Ronaldinho and Rooney. Usually played in a much smaller area than a football field and with about 10 people, street football demands superior technical ability from the players. It forces footballers to operate within smaller spaces and inspires innovative tricks and dribbles.

The CCI Street Football Tournament attracted 16 teams from all over Mumbai distributed across four groups with two teams from each group progressing into the knockout stage.Barca from Group A impressed with some thumping wins while Sureshot Redemption from Group B moved steadily through the group phase. Meanwhile, Group C featured R9FC, the ultimate winners and the only team that went through the tournament unbeaten. Group D proved to be a tighter affair with, memorably named, Bevda Party topping the group. Joining them in the quarter-finals were Victoriaâ€™s Secret, This & That FC, Bombay Gym Cubs and SDS.

The knock-out stage was when the tournament got more intense with teams fighting tooth and nail to stay in the competition. Tackles flew in, tempers frayed, goals were scored and, at the end of the game, friends were made.

While Group C runners-up, This & That FC kicked off with a thumping 8-2 win against Group D runners-up, Victoriaâ€™s Secret, the rest of the quarter-final encounters proved to be closer affairs with Barca edging Sureshot Redemption on penalties. The four teams to make it to the semis were R9FC, Bevda Party, Barca and This & That FC.

In the semi-finals, Barca put it across to Bevda Party with a comprehensive 3-0 victory, but the other semi proved to be a much tighter game. With R9FC and This & That FC scoring three goals each by the end of full-time, the match went to penalties where R9FC came up trumps.The much anticipated final, featuring R9FC and Barca, which began promisingly, ended up being a one-sided game with R9FC outclassing Barca by scoring an amazing six goals without reply.

While blood, sweat and tears were spilled on the pitch, the first CCI Street Football Tournament ended being a grand success with players, officials and organizers celebrating the enduring spirit of football.